Burgle

There is a monster in my son’s closet. Basil has been convinced of this for many weeks. I tried to assure him that there was no monster, but that was clearly a lie. I tried to comfort him with the presence of his hoard of stuffies that surround him at night, but alas they too are scared of the monster. I tried to add extra night lights, and while helpful, they only reminded him of the darkness that waited in the silence of the closet. This dark corner of his room reared its monstrous head each night as I climbed out of his bed. I intended to leave him to his sleep, but he felt that I was leaving him alone… to face the monster.

In one of my prouder parenting moments so far, though, I decided to embrace the monster. As we went through the song and dance of Basil protesting the presence of a monster in his closet, I changed my answer. Rather than deny his fears, I confirmed them. There is in fact a monster in his closet. The monster's name is Burgle. He stands approximately two inches tall and has suction pads for fingers, toes, and nose. He spends his whole life exploring Basil’s closet, climbing over the clothes and inside boxes, playing with forgotten toys and bathing in the upside down helmet of Basil’s astronaut halloween costume. What I offered as a throwaway attempt at humor, Basil has latched onto. Each night Basil asks what Burgle is up to and the monster lore in our house expands a bit more. Burgle’s parents are Durgle and Murgle. He has a cousin named Lurgle that he plays with and Burgle’s grandparents live somewhere over the interstate, suspiciously like Basil’s own. This little monster, with his entourage and his stories, is no longer a source of fear, but a comfort as Basil gets to dream of Burgle’s adventures each night.

Perhaps you remember the story from Mark chapter 5 when Jesus heals a man possessed by demons in the region of the Garesenes. The man was violent and strong and no one had been able to restrain him. Yet after Jesus restores the man by casting out his demons, setting him in his right mind and proper clothes, the people of the region do not rejoice. Instead, they became frightened and begged Jesus to leave. In Jesus they found someone with the authority to ask them to change, as he did with the demon possessed man. You see, just like monsters, not all demons are violent and scary. But at some point we have to realize we can’t keep our monsters forever. 

Sometimes it is good and necessary to befriend our monsters. To find a form of peace with the realities that frighten us. Yet I will have failed as a father if Basil believes in Burgle forever. At some point in Basil’s future he will know Burgle to be fake and be forced to deal with the very real fear of being alone at night. At some point each of us will be confronted by a Jesus who calls us to change, to surrender the petty gossip we find so fun, or the little addiction that hurts no one, or to stop avoiding those people who make us uncomfortable. At some point and at many points, Jesus will invite us into freedom and growth and it will terrify you, but there is nothing to be scared of in the closet. The monsters are all of our own making.